The quest to make a good cup of coffee in Mauritius from local and import beans
February 11, 2015
Lately I have been trying to make my own good cup of coffee from grinding my own beans and getting the dosages right in using various techniques from the French Press to the Bialetti / Moka Italian coffee maker. I started as a coffee drinker with the soluble brands such as Ricoffy and other Nestlé brands which I still find good and does simplify the procedures if you just want a cup of coffee without all the hassles. If you want it strong you just take a few more spoons.
Finding the right coffee to your liking can be as difficult as figuring out a good wine or any other delicacies. With all my recent coffee experiments I’m yet not really satisfied after several months. In discussion with some other coffee drinkers, many have told me, that they are as well on the constant quest of the best coffee experience! Even after years!
I still do believe Ricoffy is one of the best options even if it is just a soluble chicory. By “just” I do not claim that it’s inferior. I have often come to similar tasting experiences that a cup of ricoffy simply tasted very similar of the coffee I had in the French Press and through the paper filter. That’s where I come to the point where I wonder, why all the effort to get the same taste? Why not switch back to Ricoffy?
I do not own a coffee machine like the Nespresso which probably will take the coffee making to a new experience but I somehow do not fancy buying those capsules. And am not really looking for Espressos.
So far I have only tried 2 local coffee brands from Mauritius. And the roasted beans you use play a major role on the end result as well.
How do you like your coffee in Mauritius?
Which brands do you use and where do you buy them?
How do you make your coffee in order to get the best coffee experience & taste?
This is the French Press. You can get them at Super U. I have tried to make a good cup of coffee with that in using both the Chamarel and La Fournaise roasted beans. I tried all sorts of dosages and I have not come to a satisfying result. I have given up on the French Press. I now use it to just as a water measuring gauge. Also, you need a coffee grinder than can deliver you a more coarse grind, not fine grind.
My coffee making arsenal.
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HOW TO USE PODIO and where do I input TASKS?
January 3, 2015
In Podio you can post and assign tasks to different people from anywhere, within a workspace, or project by simply pressing T.
1. Workspaces are on your left where you can set up departments and project sections
2. Within a workspace you have apps which will show on your right
3. In apps you have projects
4. In projects you can add tasks
When you create a task from anywhere that you are located in PODIO:
1. You can add it to a workspace
2. You can add it to an APP (you will need to know its name though! > at the loupe section you can type it in or see selections that it will suggest)
3. You can add it to a project or entry within an APP (here as well you need to know where you want to place your task)
You can also create labels for sorting purposes.
Else you can also click around, go to workspace > select app > select project and enter task instead of using the T function.
It’s always best to put the tasks to where they are most related to for the sake of remaining well organised.
For example if you want to delegate a task to a colleague for a certain project, find the related workspace > app > project. It also depends how you have structured your workspaces.
Each workspace also has a Dashboard. You can also have a section there that shows tasks that have been added to the workspace and when you click on the title of that box you can then have an overview of all tasks of this workspace and its apps.
You also have your own section at the top navi with the tick symbol ✔ called Tasks. In this section you will get all your tasks listed which you can sort with various filters.
If you want to know who is working on what in your team, I would add for each workspace in the dashboard section a tasks box so that you can access with one click all tasks that are part of that particular workspace and get an overview who is doing what.
Workspaces > All Tasks > My Tasks
It took me quite a while to grasp this so I’ll mention it again: the tasks shown in each workspace when you click on all tasks will only show for that workspace and not all other workspaces. I would have liked Podio to have a function where you can have a global overview of ALL tasks in ALL workspaces.
From Do to Podio a bit of Wrike, team acceptance was difficult of Podio tasks and project manager
January 2, 2015
As you grow from a one person company into a small team of 5 colleagues you will soon notice that it gets challenging to keep track of tasks, projects and who is working on what and how is progress. It took me months of research to find a tool appropriate in handling tasks. The first tool I used was Chandler which wasn’t in development any more and didn’t prove ideal for team work. Then I finally found Do. Do was very easy to grasp. You can make sections and input tasks. Delegate them, leave comments and click on done when you are done. Team acceptance of this tool was all right even though it required an adaptation period of around 2 weeks, moving from Chandler to Do. Of all tools we used so far Do proved to be the best due to its simplicity when it comes to team adoption.
Then Do, a program by salesforce was shut down!
We then found Podio which my colleague who was responsible for improving intern processes of the company adored. He is a number and algorithm person, he fell in love with Podio. So we took Podio!
Podio is free for upto 5 users and gives you access to ALL functions. They do not switch off functions so that you feel forced to pay so that you can work. I like their approach, love their blogs and videos. Seriously, they are doing an awesome job.
You can create your own applications called apps, you can make department sections, for each section you will have its own dashboard which you can adapt in so many ways to suit your needs, a home feed where you can just post like on a social media page and a possibility to chat with colleagues. There is so much you can do with Podio. My colleague that was fascinated by Podio then built various apps and we shifted all our tasks and team into Podio for our Isla-Mauricia agency. At one point we were even trying to have all our bookings processed through Podio. At Isla-Mauricia we handle bookings for holiday rentals in Mauritius.
Don’t be scared to book villas in Mauritius
January 2, 2015
Fear might be one of the reasons leading you to not having a fulfilled beach villa holiday in Mauritius. While on one side you might be craving to book a private villa, on the other side the fear factor might push you to book more the conventional holiday packages. If its going to be a Mauritius holiday, then make it Special.
Let me share with you a story how a client that has become over the years a repeater how scared she was before she did indeed book a private villa, due to no more holiday packages left on that day where she wanted to go initially. She made the step to book with us a villa during the December peak season after a Google search, and has no regrets. She has now booked several times villas with my agency Isla-Mauricia, for her and her family it is simply way more easier in a villa than in a resort as they have toddlers.
Dont be scared to book villas in Mauritius
A few days ago I visited my German client at a private villa that they booked over the peak season to drop some mangos and have a chat. After a while she mentioned that she is so happy that on the day she was planning her holiday that she couldn’t book what she usually booked and opted for Mauritius and a private villa – a holiday option she didn’t know of and is really more than satisfied to have discovered this holiday option. For her, after touring the world, Mauritius is the best place to be. This is quite a statement!
Discover stereotyped Mauritius differently
December 27, 2014
Chances are that you are one of many that believe you need to win the lottery first before you can travel to Mauritius. It’s one of the most common statements I get to hear in Germany. Or the only posters you have seen when walking past by a travel agency that showcased, when it was about Mauritius, only a few luxury hotels giving one the impression that this is the only holiday option you can choose from if you want to travel to the island. Maybe you have been to a travel fair in Berlin and seen a Mauritius stand presenting the island with Sega dancer and its resorts representatives. Is that all Mauritius has to offer you?
Is Mauritius only sun, beach and resorts?
While the billboards at your metro station will most likely never feature any holiday rentals that Mauritius has to offer, obviously as its to pricey, if ever you get to see a Mauritius ad, it will be most likely the one fitting with the stereotyped image of the island! …Sun, beach, resorts!
Yes, indeed it is true, Mauritius has magnificent beach locations, azure blue lagoons with top notch 5 star luxury hotels which come with very high class services and standards which often surpass many other 5 star resorts around the world.
Your travel agency catalogue will most certainly present you the islands top resorts which come at various prices, packages etc. Maybe a page where your attention will be captivated for a moment to look at these beautiful photos and dream… someday… maybe when I get rich I’ll go to Mauritius… Is Mauritius only for the rich?
Hotels using Social Media in Mauritius
December 9, 2014
I’ve gotten acquainted with Social Media over these last 6 years while practising online marketing for my holiday rentals agency Isla-Mauricia. I use it on a regular basis to present Mauritius and our offers and I tried a lot of approaches to increase my follower base and engagement with fans. I’ve learned along the way things that work, things that don’t work and developed a passion for this arena. One of my favourite tools remains Google+ and Twitter. Especially on Google+ the hangout sessions with professionals from whom you can learn a lot and directly chat with them is an awesome experience. I do not neglect Facebook which one cannot ignore amongst various other social media platforms which has proven itself for us to be the ideal platform in reaching out to our fans in France which would be practically impossible on Google+. Each social media platform has its specificities and what you can do on Facebook you might not similarly be able to do on Google+ nor have similar results. They all require their time for you to understand how you can use it to present your business and achieve engagement with your followers, gain new followers and new customers! And country wise follower bases also vary, in some countries a large amount of the population will use more Facebook while in others they might be using other platforms. Behold that social media differs from SEO (search engine optimisation), SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and things like running an adwords campaign on Google. I will not write about SEO, SEM, and Adwords in this article.
Discovering Social Media, spending time on it, has made me realise that it is huge, it is not something where you become an expert overnight, nor one year; even if you are a heavy user. It also depends what are you doing on social media? Being an avid private user doesn’t guarantee you yet to be an excellent advocate for a company in public.
You really need to learn, study from the experts, engage with them to learn how it works. Its a never ending learning process and the moment where you think you know Social Media, you will be surprised that you might just have hit the tip of the Ice Berg!
Is a greener Mauritius possible?
December 7, 2014
I just finished reading the book Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman which speaks about global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the expansion of the world’s middle class through globalization which have produced a dangerously unstable planet–one that is “hot, flat, and crowded.” He also shows how the very habits that led us to ravage the natural world led to the meltdown of the financial markets and the Great Recession. The challenge of a sustainable way of life presents the United States with an opportunity not only to rebuild its economy, but to lead the world in radically innovating toward cleaner energy. And it could inspire Americans to something they haven’t seen in a long time–nation-building in America–by summoning the intelligence, creativity, and concern for the common good that are their greatest national resources.
This book is a concern not only for USA but the world and he does also speak about China and ways they are implementing to become more greener. The book has details that go till the year 2008 and I wonder now that we are close to 2015 how things have worsened or improved. For the US I can only recall electric cars made by Tesla. Else I’m not aware of any green revolution taking place? Can you add some infos in comments at the bottom if you know of any great green projects taking place in the USA? Just yesterday I saw someone on Twitter post how happy she was to get a gallon of gas for just $1.99. Now that doesn’t go in line of a green revolution!
Hotels in Mauritius now compete with Guest houses, Beach Villas and Luxury Apartments
December 7, 2014
In my previous articles I have addressed the challenges which holiday rental agencies in Mauritius are currently facing and how they can expect a deterioration in their mode of operations if they do not handle quick in reinventing themselves or cut down costs drastically!
I have mentioned previously that for most owners of beach villas and apartments that they should still be doing fine as they can use other methods of doing their own advertising than going through an agency. Even though agencies play an important role, the landlords and clients can eliminate the middleman who is the agent by buying and selling directly, which is now easily possible on the internet.
Hotels in Mauritius competing with Guest Houses
When it comes to tourism, my articles usually resolve around the theme of agencies and vacation rentals but do not address much Hotels in Mauritius. Now, the drastic sales measures that hotels in Mauritius have implemented is bringing results and these results might on one side be filling rooms for some, while some other structures are standing empty. This topic has been on my mind for a while but I wasn’t yet aware how serious this impact currently already is and how many part takers of the industry have been influenced to face a change in the scenery of how once tourism was running in the sense of occupancy and profit after turnover.
Mauritius Tourism – Does the tourism industry need a wake up slap!?
November 5, 2014
Many have already been woken up by the slap of negative figures while some are starting to rejoice in profits of restructuring they have carried out. Our industry in tourism is definitely wide awake. Arrivals from new markets are making itself seen and felt. But in which direction is it steering or are we still dreaming and waiting for better times?
At the end of the article I will share a small tip to those who are running small agencies and who feel like facing the wall of china when trying to collaborate with resorts. A tip I haven’t mentioned in my other previous articles. This article is mainly an introduction to my articles I have written around the subject of holiday rentals in Mauritius and the tourism industry around this subject and the challenges small tour operators face when trying to collaborate with hotels and their TO and public rates policies.
My articles are also interesting for not only those who already work in this industry but also for those aspiring to get started. When I started 7 years back, inexperienced in this area, I wished I had some of the guidelines which I have published to give me a better perspective of this industry.
→ My first article deals with the holiday home rental agencies future in Mauritius.
Since I have been running my own agency since several years and facing various challenges I share my point of views of what scenarios to expect for agencies who especially depend a lot on the online channel.
→ My second article addresses the subject of what costs to expect when starting your own holiday rentals agency in Mauritius.
Out of my own experience I list costs that you have to face when you run a holiday rentals agency. Since regulations of fees constantly change some of my listed figures might not reflect the new decision of the Tourism Authority on how they will regulate the new fees of the Tour Operators licence since the trade fees have been introduced in 2014 which they are trying to balance out so that you don’t end up paying both the TO licence and the trade fees which will amount up to Rs.19 000. A good article for those in the business to check if you missed out on some fees and for others who are interested in running their own agency. Budgeting is an important factor before you just get launched.
→ My third article is about changes in the landscape of holiday rental agencies in Mauritius.
Many agencies in Mauritius are running out of business, closing down, restructuring, having to down size, practice layoffs and what was once a main business income turns into a side business income. I also go a bit more into details how other areas in this industry run and are affected. There aren’t only losers but also winners.
→ My fourth article speaks about how to renew your tour operators licence in Mauritius.
Every year this licence needs to be renewed and comes with some paper work. Try to be efficient so that you can reduce the amount of times you need to travel to Port-Louis. In this article I outline currently what you need to do when you need to renew your licence.
→ My fifth article speaks about TDS which stands for Tax Deduction at Source.
Since in the past many landlords asked me questions about TDS I decided to compile an article around this subject. If you have no clue what TDS is, this article can be an introduction. TDS is ofcourse way more vast, I will share links in that article where you can find further information.
Back to the little tip I mentioned above I was going to enlighten you of. While in my previous articles I address various challenges that you will face or that agencies are going through, I haven’t mentioned for instances solutions for every obstacle that you might face. For some cases its obvious and for others it will require experience how you work your way through in the tourism sector. And there isn’t a solution that just fixes all issues as this sector is complex. If you are a small agency having a lot of trouble selling hotel rooms and feeling like you are facing the wall of china when contacting hotels directly. I advise you to collaborate with a bigger local tour operator who can pass on to you their tour operator buying rates. Why would it be interesting for them to do that? Even though they pass on these rates to you, they can still benefit on a commission which is often at around 5%. They might also charge you a per person handling fee which will be minor but in this way you can access TO rates through them. Hotels will be more interested in collaborating with you when you can offer them a certain amount of volume.
How to apply TDS Tax Deduction at Source for Tour Operators and Holiday Rental agents in Mauritius
September 27, 2014
By now all those in the tourism industry since the 15th of December 2011 should know how TDS works. I made a small tutorial back then for my partners that collaborate with my agency Isla-Mauricia to get an overview of how TDS works and it has brought in additional steps to process when you handle payments. This article might also be useful for those aspiring to work directly with landlords as a holiday rental agency, property manager or property owners by setting up their own villa rental agency. If you own a property and you wish to rent it to tourists you will need to apply for a tourist enterprise licence at the tourism authority and when you collaborate with local agencies in Mauritius they will have to pay your TDS directly to the MRA. More to that in my article below.
By the way, TDS applies on many other types of goods and services in Mauritius. My article only addresses tour operators, agents and tourism rental properties. I have added a link at the bottom of the article of the MRA which covers TDS more in depth. It’s good to have a look and to know. Just an example why, did you know that: “Payments made to a non-resident for any services rendered in Mauritius pursuant to section 111B(h) of the Income Tax Act” is 10%.
When TDS was introduced, it made quite some work for many. I worked out a solution with my programmer which does all the calculations for me in my backend system in which I process reservations for bookings of beach villas and apartments. TDS actually has resulted in me having quite some costs in handling it! And also it requires you to spend additional time processing it, just like VAT.
How to renew your Tour Operators licence in Mauritius
September 27, 2014
Update:
20.10.16
My article below dates back to the year 27.09.2014. A few things have changed again and actually the steps to do your renewal are back like it used to be. The trade fee has been cancelled.
So in order to do your renewal you will need to:
Before going to the Tourism Authority
1. Renew your public liability so that it covers the whole of the next following year.
2. Print out a letter that states that there is no change in the shareholding structure of your company. It should be a letter that carries the letter head of your company and must be stamped + signed.
Once you have done point 1 & 2 you can go to the Tourism Authority for renewal. I suggest you to go 2-3 months before your licence expires. Then you will have less waiting time.
What to take along when you go to the Tourism Authority?
1. Public liability insurance policy that clearly states the name of your company and coverage period.
2. Your letter that states that there is no change in the shareholding structure of your company. It should be a letter that carries the letter head of your company and must be stamped + signed.
3. Your old tour operator licence.
4. Cheque book, credit card or cash of Rs.11 000.
For point 2 you can use this as a template:
Tourism Authority
For the DIRECTOR
1st Floor, Victoria House
Corner Barracks and St.Louis Street
Port-Louis
MauritiusDate: _________________
Subject: Renewal of Tour Operators licenceDear Director of the Tourism Authority,
this is to confirm that there is no change in the shareholding structure of Your Company Name Ltd. The only shareholder is still the Managing Director of the company, bearing name Your Name and ID No. Your ID No.. The secretary of the company is still Name of Secretary.Yours Sincerely,
_______________________________________
Your Name
The article below can be interesting to review for learning purposes and it does also include steps and a template how to request a certified copy of your annual return from the companies division which displays who is the current share holder of the company. You will have to request that if there have been changes in your shareholding structure.
Else for additional accuracy I recommend you to also contact the Tourism Authority if you have questions and you can find a lot of infos on their websites:
→ Mauritius Tourism Authority official website
→ (Old website) The Mauritius Tourism Authority official website
As a tour operator in Mauritius, every year you need to renew your licence at the tourism authority based in Port-Louis, Mauritius. It involves several steps and procedures and you are required to go to Port-Louis a minimum of two times. I’ll outline that a bit later in my article. To get your licence renewed, you also need to pay and apply for various other documents, else you won’t get your renewal!
Those that have done business in Mauritius from abroad and living here, know that the island in its constant aim of progress; quite often changes its rules and regulations how such application procedures and renewals are handled. Never the less, you will still, every year, require to invest a bit of time, effort and transportation to get all what they require in your act together for submission. And even if you do everything precise, someone at some counter will make some comment that this or that isn’t right but however often a solution is provided or the latter is resolved.
Tour Operators Licence of IM Travel Services Ltd. which runs Isla-Mauricia
This is what SEO talk sounds like when 5 experts meet
August 31, 2014
Yesterday I had a look at this recorded hangout on air embedded below of “How Does Google Determine Content Quality? How Would You?” whicht hosted the following five speakers:
+Eric Enge, +Bill Slawski, +Ammon Johns, +David Harry, +Mark Traphagen
I have seen those guys speak in various other recorded HoAs and their discussions always deliver a series of goodies and take aways (in the sense of their conclusions and research work around SEO) for the ones interested about SEO and the arts of online marketing.
While for many; SEO is believed to be just link building, getting the content and titles of their pages right. Have a look at this discussion and discover the depths of SEO and its technical aspect. The panda update was mentioned several times. It’s been since a long time that I don’t follow up on Google updates any more, once upon a time when there were still those Google dances… Following these guys gets you quickly back on track.
My first expectation of their discussion; was it going to be the revelation how you create a high quality page? It turned out more to be what are the different aspects Google looks at to determine quality and how search results differ depending to various criteria such as the intent of the search, the time it was done. Some great examples where also mentioned such as sport games – how these results differ depending at what time you are doing your search.
These are my notes of their discussion round:
High quality site algorithm
Patterns (Points attribution or content quality scores. User behaviour being observed by quality raters to notice some patterns.)
Signals of low quality
Quality raters
Identifying domain place holder pages, content farms, link pages
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Changes in the landscape of holiday rental agencies in Mauritius
August 16, 2014
This year has been a -and still is going to be a very challenging year for many holiday rental agencies in Mauritius. When I speak of holiday rental agencies in general, I mean those that act as an intermediary in proposing beach villas and apartments on their websites usually holding a tour operators licence obtained by the Mauritius Tourism Authority. There is a difference to the tasks performed by property managers who do maintenance work on site, receive clients and have exclusivity in re-marketing those units through a network of agencies with whom they collaborate. Some of these market their offers through my Isla-Mauricia holiday rentals agency websites.
To run a holiday rental agency in Mauritius means you are operating in an ever growing competitive market. The more costs you have, the bigger your team is, the more hard you will be hit once the low season strikes and if your bookings start becoming less and less. A situation I had to face myself since last November 2013. I experienced a sudden decline in bookings. November, usually one of my best months performed very badly and this trend remained on going till May. June and July have been satisfactory and I’m currently observing the month of August there are still 15 days to go and I hope for this month to end stable which could be a sign for recovery and the year ending positively. Though I speak for my own situation, it could be completely different for others.
Changes in the landscape of holiday rental agencies in Mauritius
I faced for the first time in my life this year the challenge of laying off my team that had grown to be like a family. This could make for another blog post in the context of challenges an entrepreneur faces and how to lay off and say good bye – its over!
There are various theories, scenarios that you can study, or try to put into practice but reality often has its surprises taking you off guard and handing you a slap! A slap to wake up or a slap to make you cry. When money talks, it can get “brutal”. Deal with banks and you will see, there is no love, no heart, no passion – just the figures that matter – the rest is just acting to get your business. From smile to the dagger into your back. This wasn’t my case but this is what you could face when laying off since its a very sensitive issue.
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Yifat Cohen & Jason T. Wiser Google+ Strategies – How to master hashtags and decipher authority signals
August 14, 2014
Yesterday night I spent a while watching those two recorded hangout on air (HoA) sessions of Jason T. Wiser and Yifat Cohen. I decided to give it a night and let it sink in and reflect before I make my personal article of what spoke to me the most from their presentation. I must also add that sometimes watching various HoA relating to the subject of social media and marketing that some terms take a while to sink in. While David Amerland has mentioned so often in his presentations the term instant gratification – it’s only now after hearing it again and trying to access some links that this made a tick realising that yes indeed this is what I or we have turned into. We want things now, and with the least clicks possible.
Yifat Cohen – Jaston T. Wiser – Get On Track Stay On Track – More Yifat Cohen G+ Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Your Small Business
I have been on many websites in the past, and you know those long pages which tell you stories over stories where at the end in order to get what you want you must pay to get the answer. When I see opt in offers on websites, it’s usually what I expect – a smart content scheme to entice me to give my credentials in order to get something for free where halfway through I must then pay. Meaning this has led me to doubt opt in pages. That’s why; the LEAST I have to click away from a network, the more I prefer it. This is what is so great about hangouts on Google+ you do get professional information for free. It is a different form of University where you make up your own studies, get access to experts, get to ask them questions. On top its fun!
Digital Shopping Tool Impact Study – how to improve your tools performance?
August 9, 2014
Purchase decisions – How and why people shop and buy
What are digital shopping tools was the first question I had when I saw the interview title of Jason T. Wiser Google+ hangout on air. This question gets answered by Kim Finnerty in more details in their discussion round that you should watch if you are running a business online. At first I thought it is some sort of analytics tool or stats. Actually it can be anything from a search engine to a mobile payment program.
Digital Shopping Tool Impact Study by #OnTrackTips
Whenever I watch any of these interviews I’m on the lookout for the jewel information which I can put into practice for my own Mauritius Holiday Rentals business for my agency Isla-Mauricia. What spoke out to me the most is the topic regarding reviews and you will note that my transcript which is a break up of their discussion below also mentions that reviews generate very high conversion rates. Even though this video dates back to the year 2013 you will see in this Google+ post which I have reshared recently from Jason T. Wiser which dates back to the 4th of August where he gives a good advice about linking to your Google+ reviews.
Mauritius Charcuterie Fresh or Frozen Meat Products supplier of 5 Star hotels De Lapeyre Ltd.
August 4, 2014
Whether its pickled specialities, a smoked chicken or roasted ham – De Lapeyre Ltd. is your partner of choice for your local charcuterie meat products in Mauritius.
Charcuterie Mauritius De Lapeyre Ltd.
They have their own savoir faire, authentic recipes and traditional techniques practised since over 30 years.
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What costs to expect when starting your own holiday rentals agency or tour operator services in Mauritius?
August 3, 2014
In my first article in my blog I wrote in depth about “What are the future outlooks of agencies in the holiday home rentals industry of Mauritius?” My article is quite long and covers in a whole how to get started and what challenges you will face. I also address my own pessimistic view of the industry and if you are considering to get started you should read that. What I didn’t address in my previous article are the costs that you will encounter.
Costs of running a vacation rentals business in Mauritius
In this article I will give an approximate overview of costs that you will have to face if you wish to launch professionally your own company that offers vacation rentals and other tourism related services. When I got started I didn’t know which costs to expect. I hope this article will help you in your planning and also to get a clear overview if your idea is realistic to get started in this industry.
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Christopher Ahlberg: I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer – Pioneers Festival 2013
July 5, 2014
Recorded Future is a web intelligence software platform that helps companies anticipate threats and capitalize on opportunities.
A fascinating software and start up company that can come to conclusions with the analysis of the large amount of data which is openly available on the world wide web. It does make one curious how a company can tap and harness into such information and come up with various results. Looking into the potential of what the future in a certain spectrum might be holding.
In this video Milo Yiannopoulos from The Kernel at Pioneer interviews Christopher Ahlberg founder of Recorded Future in a short compact 21 minutes session.
If you like subjects such as Big Data, Web Intelligence and organisation of data, analysis and giving it structure – before diving into the video you can have an idea what Recorded Future does here → https://www.recordedfuture.com/web-intelligence/
Hiking North East Mauritius – Roches Noires Caves, Bras d’eau forest till Poste Lafayette beach – Pat Loisirs
June 24, 2014
Level 1 hike. Not tough, easy go for amateurs.
Track we did was around 10Km.
We started at the village of Rivière du Rempart — Old Railway Track — Caves of Roches Noires — Mauritius Radio Telescope — Mango Orchard — Bras D’eau Visitor’s Centre — Bras D’eau Trail — and ended at Poste La Fayette beach.
Climbing through the caves of Mauritius left by volcanic activity is like witnessing the foundation and construction of Mauritius. It does look a bit like concrete bays without the proper lighting.
Mauritius Roches Noires caves – photo by Annika Schöbe
We start the day from Grand Baie and meet up with the hikers group of the club Pat Loisirs in the centre of Riviere du Rempart. On a Sunday morning it is quite busy there. If you are looking for a parking, town centre might not be ideal – you might also consider parking a bit more before at the town entrance if coming from Roches Noires. Our meeting point is set at the Shell filling station. The road that will be our starting point also goes past by that filling station. We parked the car a bit more further away just before that narrow bridge which you can cross and that leads directly to the caves. The people there are friendly and we asked them if we can park close to their property which they approved.